Meet Sally and Jeff and their great idea to start a business with little money

I like stories, either listening to them or sharing mine. The following is of the creative theoretical type on how a vision can become a flash business.

Let me introduce you to a fictional company called Small Big Dreams, Inc. Small Big Dreams, Inc., like many companies, started out as a small business, a mom and dad, you might call it. His core business is helping others, for a fee, turn their seemingly small ideas or dreams into prosperous and successful businesses. Small Big Dreams offers consulting work to those who have the vision, but lack the strategies to make it a viable business.

When Small Big Dreams, Inc. was started, many family and friends of the owners laughed at the idea. They thought, who the hell would invest financially in hiring some kind of consultant, to help them crystallize their dreams? Many thought that it would certainly succeed as a non-profit organization, but that was it. However, owners Sally and Jeff knew better. They had a vision and a healthy dose of passion to go with it.

What made Small Big Dreams a success was a very simple formula. He is known to many, but few have the patience, tenacity, or courage to see his vision come to fruition. This is the formula used by the husband and wife duo and the owners of Small Big Dreams, Inc.:

1. The vision – It started with a vision. One Saturday morning over coffee at their favorite cafe, Sally and Jeff came up with the idea of ​​starting their business. They immediately wrote it down. Not intending her quiet morning to turn into a business meeting, Sally borrowed a pen from a nearby customer and began writing on the closest thing she could find, a napkin. Unlike Jeff, Sally was a big dreamer. It was easy to scribble the beginning of what would become her ticket to her early retirement. Although her vision was a bit hazy, it was clear enough for Sally and Jeff to follow her. The key takeaway from this first step is that while her business idea vision may not be very clear, it’s important to document it as quickly as possible. Jeff, the more hands-on guy, took the next step.

2. Action planning – Most would argue, and for good reason because of the many formulas for creating goals that demand specificity, that this step, action planning, should come long after creating a vision. But both Sally and Jeff were “offbeat types,” so tradition wasn’t in their DNA. Jeff grabbed another napkin and zoomed in on the short but simply written vision of his wife. Even in this action planning exercise, his unconventional approach seeped through. Jeff wrote long-term action steps, not goals, but actions. One was that in five years they would use the profits from Small Big Dreams, Inc. and create a non-profit organization. It was something they had dreamed of for years. Expect? What about the how? Is this more of a goal than a vision? For Jeff and Sally, it was a long-term plan that was doable. You see, they decided that while short- and long-term goals need to be specific and action plans are essential, they wanted to look beyond today or even next year and focus on many years ahead. They wanted to start with the end result in mind.

3. Go against the grain – Sally had a stroke for creativity. When she creates a vision, they are great. Unapologetically, she thinks big. Borders or barriers are non-existent as far as she is concerned. The world was her oyster, therefore the act of thinking small was as strange as meeting a Martian from the moon. So the vision she had created, while initially not clearly defined, was not without Sally’s typical sparkle and height. Small Big Dreams would become an empire, one that to create millionaires This is coming from a couple who barely had enough money to cover their existing financial responsibilities! This is where the long-term view came into play. Once the long-term vision was set, three napkins later, they feverishly wrote down the short-term rewards for each action or milestone achieved. For example, along with Jeff’s action of creating a non-profit organization, it was necessary to document the feelings of satisfaction evoked by the mere fact of achieving that goal. Writing his feelings fueled his passions. Just thinking about the short-term rewards they would reap from embarking on their journey was enough to ignite the passion. The removing of this; think long-term and build short-term rewards into that action plan. For example, when creating that business plan, which is a crucial action step for any business idea, the reward for completing it might just be the feeling that comes from completing that first step. Celebrate the small victories.

4. Test procedure – Once Sally and Jeff had their vision, action steps, and strategically placed rewards/milestones before them as they moved toward realizing their vision, skeleton as they were, they began listing their evidence procedure. You see, the path to realizing any vision, especially that of owning a business, is not an easy one. There are bound to be obstacles, many of which can discourage and even cause one to give up. Jeff knew this was the case and to mitigate this eventuality, he documented throughout the plan what his process for staying motivated would be. The evidence was the key. When the going gets tough, remember the short wins, the ones that say, hey, look what we’ve done! Surely we can do this. When those daunting thoughts that will surely remain in the shadows of their minds begin to creep in, Jeff very intentionally wrote out in detail what his testing procedure would look like. An example of this was around the lack of capital. The how had not yet manifested only the desired result. And because they focused on long-term rather than short-term goals, it was even more critical that this step needed to be detailed. So, for each action, he wrote what the possible doubt would be. He then listed some questions to validate his fears. The fear of having insufficient capital is a good example. Jeff wrote alongside that concern how they were able to move into their new home five years ago after facing the same obstacle, money. Everything they did to achieve that goal was evidence that they can get capital for their business. It was the evidence that discredited his fear of not being able to start Small Big Dreams. Where did the fear come from? What was the evidence that they couldn’t? Getting her home on a shoestring budget was the evidence! This proved to be a tremendous tool. They mapped it out, listed the fears and doubts beforehand, wrote down questions to ask themselves and reflect on why the fear exists. The moral of this is that we already know that self-doubt will arise at some point, but if there is no evidence to substantiate these fears or “it can’t be done”, then proceed. Know the difference between real or imagined fears of doubt.

In closing, Sally and Jeff, two people with very little but big dreams, made the decision to think long term. There are many books and quotes you can probably fill this page with about how small steps lead to reaching an ultimate goal, I challenge you to take this even further. Create the long-term vision, create long-term actions, reward and celebrate when short-term goals are met, and finally eliminate second-guessing by determining in advance how you’ll stay motivated by reflecting on what you’ve done rather than doing it. . what you think you can’t do. Let passion fuel your vision and watch miracles happen.